Jean Garon

Jean Garon (May 6, 1938 – July 1, 2014) was a politician, lawyer, academic and economist in Quebec, Canada.

He was born in Saint-Michel, Quebec, and graduated from Université Laval with a bachelor's degree in 1960 and a master's in economics two years later. He received a law degree in 1969 and was called to the Quebec Bar in June 1970. He was editor of Garnier, the student newspaper at Collège des Jésuites de Québec (now known as St. Charles Garnier College) from 1956 to 1958, as was an executive member of Escholiers griffonneurs, an association of student newspapers, in 1957 and 1958.

He participated in campus politics and served as prime minister of the Université Laval's model parliament.

He died on July 1, 2014 of a heart attack in Lévis, a Quebec City suburb.

Political activism

He taught at Université Laval and Cégep Limoilou. As an early supporter of the Quebec independence movement

City politics

Garon did not run for re-election to the National Assembly in 1998. Instead, he became leader of the municipal political party Équipe Jean Garon/Parti des citoyennes et des citoyens and was elected mayor of Lévis, Quebec. He was re-elected with a majority at the City Council in 2001 (defeating Christian Jobin), in the aftermath of the province-wide municipal merger imposed by the Parti Québécois government.

In 2004, four City Councillors (Danielle Roy-Marinelli, Guy Dumoulin, Philippe Laberge, Anne Ladouceur) resigned from Garon's party and founded Lévis Force 10, Équipe Roy-Marinelli.

While running for re-election in 2005, Garon declared that opposition in city politics is a nuisance. The controversial remark undermined his campaign. He lost the election, finishing second (with 28% of the vote) behind Lévis Force 10 candidate Danielle Roy-Marinelli (42%). His party won four seats out of fifteen on the City Council, becoming the Official Opposition. City Councillor Isabelle Demers succeeded Garon as party leader.

Later concerns in provincial politics and sovereignty

Garon still favoured the independence of Quebec, but was not a card-carrying supporter of the Parti Québécois after 1998. He felt that the PQ is disconnected from the concerns of those among the province's residents who live outside of Montreal's city limits. He considered running for the Action démocratique du Québec in the Montérégie area in 2007, and attended its subsequent general assembly.

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